Constance Wu’s ’Fresh Off The Boat’ Job Safe After Rant

The Crazy Rich Asians star posted an expletive-filled complaint last week when the comedy’s renewal was announced.

No thought was given to recasting Wu’s role as the sitcom’s mum, network executive Karey Burke told a teleconference Tuesday.

Burke said she’s choosing to believe Wu’s most recent comment, that she’s happy to return to Fresh Off The Boat.

But pitching ABC’s line-up to advertisers later Tuesday, the network executive couldn’t resist a dig. “Fresh Off The Boat will air Friday nights … still starring Constance Wu,” Burke said.

Wu has apologised for what she called “insensitive” comments and said she loves the sitcom. She said she was temporarily frustrated that it would keep her from working on a passion project.

Burke said she knew Wu had another opportunity if the show ended, but ABC always intended to renew it for a sixth season.

ABC’s fall schedule will include a reboot of the TV variety series Kids Say the Darndest Things, hosted by Tiffany Haddish, and another spinoff of its comedy black-ish. Titled mixed-ish, the spinoff will focus on the pre-teen version of the mum that Tracee Ellis Ross plays on black-ish. The young Rainbow, nicknamed Bow, faces the challenges of growing up in the 1980s as part of a mixed-ethnicity family, ABC said.

Two other new shows on ABC’s fall schedule: Stumptown, based on the graphic novels, and Emergence, described as a character-driven thriller. – AP

Randall Park (left), and Constance Wu appear in a scene from Fresh Off the Boat. Photo: ABC